Research & reports

Abiola Adebunmi Olarinre · International Journal of Research and Innovation in Applied Science · Nigeria

This research surveyed 240 households in Osogbo, Ile-Ife, and Ilesa cities in Osun State, Nigeria, to analyze urban household food security and coping mechanisms. Findings showed that only 17.9% of households achieved food security, with 39.6% experiencing moderate and 16.3% severe food insecurity. Household income, education, household size, credit access, and food expenditure share significantly influenced food security.

Katuka, Stephen Agire, Magaji, Sule, Ismail, Yahaya · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · Nigeria (Abuja)

This study analyzed the impact of rising food prices on the food security of different socio-economic groups in Abuja, Nigeria, using a cross-sectional survey of 400 households. Findings revealed that only 18% of households were food secure, while 56% experienced moderate to severe food insecurity. Food price inflation had a significant negative effect on food security, particularly among low-income households. Rising food prices were shown to increase the likelihood of mild, moderate, and severe food insecurity by 53%, 88%, and 132%, respectively.

Luis Enrique Serrano Ayasta, Josiane Stoessel-Ritz · Anales Científicos · Peru (Lima)

A doctoral research study in three low-income neighborhoods in South Lima, Peru, analyzed power relations within urban agriculture projects. The findings indicate that these projects, despite aiming for empowerment, often mask asymmetric power relations and reinforce preexisting inequalities, particularly for women gardeners. This perpetuates gender hierarchies and limits their participation and agency, reflecting paternalism from promoting organizations and community leaders.

Johannes Bhanye, Abraham R. Matamanda, Ruvimbo Shayamunda · Discover Global Society · Zimbabwe

In Lydiate informal settlement in peri-urban Zimbabwe, Malawian migrants mobilize insurgent practices, including informal land seizures, spiritual claims, and communal strategies, to access land for farming. Access to land for urban and peri-urban farming remains a significant hurdle, especially for marginalized migrants. Migrants invoke divine ownership narratives, Nyau cult practices, and witchcraft deterrence as tactical tools for defending seized land.

Francisco Pereira de Sousa, Clareana Maria Guimarães Franco, Cássio Bruno Sá de Souza, Débora de Paula Brito Fogaça, Marcos Paulo Parente Araújo, Maíra Santiago Pires Parente, Henrique D. Silva, Dirlley Douglas Alves de Oliveira · Caderno Pedagógico · Brazil

A qualitative and quantitative study in Palmas, Tocantins, Brazil, aimed to understand the interfaces of the Palmas City Hall's community garden project. Based on ethnographic research, action research, and field study, the results showed that this local practice enhances community participation in urban garden planting in northern Palmas. It aligns with Sustainable Development Goals and is a viable tool for minimizing food insecurity and hunger reduction. However, the project requires structural adjustments, promotion of public and private partnerships, and support from universities and civil society for healthy sustainability.

Rita Regina Marques Costa, Denes Dantas Vieira, Vivianni Marques Leite dos Santos, Deise Cristiane do Nascimento · · Brazil (Juazeiro)

This qualitative and quantitative field study analyzed the interaction between university extension and community-based family agriculture at the Povo Unido Community Garden in Juazeiro, Brazil. Conducted between March and May 2025, the research involved semi-structured questionnaires and dialogues with 47 farming families to understand their perceptions of knowledge exchange and interaction with educational institutions. Results showed consensus on the importance of university extension, but farmers pointed out challenges such as limited time for discussion and effective inclusion of participants with lower educational attainment.

Karolin Andersson · Gender Place & Culture · Rwanda (Kigali)

This qualitative study in Kigali, Rwanda, examined the socially differentiated implications for urban farmers of reorganizing urban cultivated marshlands. The study found that marshland reorganization and closure reproduce farmers’ vulnerabilities, shaped by gender, age, health/ability, and education. It demonstrated a largely exclusionary pattern in the city’s urban greening agenda, contradicting authorities' stated ambitions.

Dennis Raphael · Policy Press eBooks · Global

This chapter documents the growth of charitable non-governmental responses to food insecurity in Canada and the UK, including food banks and community gardens. It argues that these responses are problematic because they fail to address the economic and political causes of food insecurity. Further failures include the stigma experienced by food bank users and the false belief that food insecurity is being resolved.

Lídia Cabral, Ronald Ranta, Suleyman M. Demi, Ísis Domingues, Julian May, Claire Néel, Grace Nkomo, Luciana Marques Vieira, Marie Walser · · Global

An international research collaboration examined grass-roots food provisioning innovations in five urban locations across the UK, Canada, France, Brazil, and South Africa. These initiatives, which include social supermarkets and school gardens, faced challenges such as dependence on surplus food, logistical problems, funding limitations, and the need for ongoing volunteer support. The study found that these innovations struggle with economic viability due to funding and volunteer reliance.

Kejela Gnamura, Michael Akwasi Antwi, A Belete · Land · Ethiopia (Addis Ababa)

This mixed-methods study investigated the effects of urbanization-induced displacement on economic capital security by comparing 223 evicted and 223 non-evicted peri-urban farming households in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Logistic regression and thematic content analysis revealed that evicted households are approximately 72.7% less likely to achieve economic security compared to non-evicted households. The study concluded significant differences in household economic capital security between the two groups.

Susanne Berliner · · Global

This narration observes a community garden as a space of social diversity, functioning as a "cosmopolitan canopy" where people from different backgrounds interact. While a cosmopolitan spirit exists, the garden is not neutral; its permeable boundaries and internal segregation indicate it is permeated by power dynamics and control.

Sara Mahdizadeh, Yun Gao · Local Environment · United Kingdom

This qualitative study, based on 16 semi-structured interviews, examined motivations and barriers to participation in community gardens in Huddersfield, UK. Key motivations included social interaction, mental well-being, and skill development. Reported barriers were declining volunteer numbers, physical workload, limited institutional support, and accessibility challenges.

Sabounchi, Saina, Saheb, Anahita Javanmardi, Adhami, Sadaf, Minouei, Alan · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · United States (Cambridge)

A study using 2020 U.S. Census data across 87 block groups in Cambridge, Massachusetts, found that higher social vulnerability was positively associated with greater sidewalk presence. However, social vulnerability showed no significant associations with open space acreage, pedestrian ramps, community gardens, or public art landmarks.

Moses Wanyakha, Nancy Grudens‐Schuck · International Journal of Agriculture Extension and Social Development · United States

This qualitative study reviewed data from 32 counties in Iowa over five years to assess stakeholder participation in Master Gardener community garden donation programs. The analysis found that while these programs engage many stakeholders, the involvement of food pantry patrons in the planning process was low. This low patron involvement limits the programs' ability to effectively serve the community and achieve sustainability and efficacy in providing fresh produce.

Human Sciences Research Council · Figshare · South Africa

A 2025 study from South Africa's Western Cape used propensity score matching on data from 220 households — those participating in Department of Agriculture-funded backyard garden projects plus a control group — to assess urban agriculture's contribution to household food security. Households engaged in urban agriculture benefited from greater dietary diversity and income from selling produce, but the study found no significant positive contribution of urban agriculture to food security.

Kelsey Ryan-Simkins · Local Environment · United States (Ohio)

This study used multilevel negative binomial regression to examine the relationship between urban agriculture site locations and sociodemographic and neighbourhood environmental characteristics at the census tract level in Ohio, USA. Findings challenge the idea that urban agriculture is placed in areas with low food access, raising questions about the food-access rhetoric used to promote urban agriculture, a movement critiqued for often being led by upper-class, urban elites, and contribute to debates about the roles of race and gentrification in urban agriculture.

Byamungu Lincoln Zabuloni, Maxwell Mudhara, Joyce Chitja · Food and Energy Security · South Africa

A study assessing the impact of home- and community-garden programs on household food security status in uMzumbe Local Municipality, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, using random and purposive sampling to survey 223 respondents with a structured questionnaire and a Tobit regression model to examine determinants. Total income (p<0.001), extension services (p<0.01), credit access (p<0.05), age, farm size (p<0.01) and education level (p<0.05) positively affected food security status, while household size (p<0.001), home gardens (p<0.01) and community gardens (p<0.01) negatively affected it. The study concludes that implementing home and community garden programs alone was not enough to improve households' food security status in uMzumbe Municipality.

Sarah Corcoran, Rachael Condley, Rachel A Liebe, Tuba Khan, Jillian Joyce, Deana Hildebrand, Ashlea Braun · Journal of Hunger & Environmental Nutrition · United States (California)

At a hybrid food and resource center with an attached community garden in California, USA, a longitudinal, sequential explanatory mixed-methods study of 30 patrons (mean age 45.9, 73.3% women) combined quantitative measures (survey and skin carotenoids) with qualitative semi-structured interviews to examine barriers to and facilitators of fruit and vegetable intake. Skin carotenoid levels, a biomarker of fruit and vegetable intake, were largely unchanged before and after (P = .51); among the 26 participants interviewed, facilitators cited included perceptions of quality and alignment with health goals, while barriers included mental health and competing priorities, leading to the conclusion that programs aiming to improve fruit and vegetable intake should prioritize non-diet determinants.

Wendy Demark-Wahnefried, Robert A. Oster, Kerry P. Smith, Harleen Kaur, Andrew D. Frugé, W. Walker Cole, Julie L. Locher, Gabrielle B. Rocque, Maria Pisu, Jennifer R. Bail, Harvey Jay Cohen, Douglas R. Moellering, Cindy K. Blair · JAMA Network Open · United States (Alabama)

A randomized trial in Alabama, USA, assigned 381 older cancer survivors (mean age 69.8 years, 69.0% female) with suboptimal vegetable and fruit intake, physical activity or physical function to a one-year home vegetable gardening intervention (supplies plus mentoring by certified master gardeners) or to a waitlist. The primary outcome — a composite index of improvement in vegetable and fruit intake, moderate-to-vigorous physical activity and physical function — did not differ significantly (4.5% intervention vs 3.1% waitlist, P=.53), nor did vegetable and fruit intake between arms (mean difference 0.3 servings/day, P=.10). The intervention arm did show significant gains in physical performance (2-minute step test +6.0 steps; 30-second chair stand +0.8 repetitions), perceived health (+8.4 points on a 100-point scale) and gut microbiome alpha diversity. The COVID-19 pandemic significantly moderated effects, so the trial does not establish that gardening halts functional decline in older adults.

Pierric Calenge, Maie Gérardot · Métropolitiques · United States (Cleveland)

The work by Max Rousseau and Vincent Béal illuminates the ambiguities of a policy that organizes urban decline and racial segregation in Cleveland. This policy promotes urban degrowth and racial segregation, balancing algorithmic management and urban greening. The study focuses on the Rust Belt region, which experiences de-urbanization marked by the subprime crisis, racism, and segregation.

Shawn A. Trivette, Shannon McCarragher · Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems · United States (New England)

This paper examined three types of locally oriented Short Food Supply Chains (SFSCs) in southern New England and their spatial alignment with demographic factors. The findings indicate that pay-as-you-go operations are more prevalent in predominantly White areas and, to some extent, higher-income areas. Box share arrangements (community-supported agricultures) showed stronger associations with educational attainment. The study concludes that local food availability is a systematically uneven phenomenon, varying with both outlet type and social characteristics.

Reina Bazán Alarcón, Edgar Leonidas Cottallat Villao, Segress García-Hevia · Código Científico Revista de Investigación · Ecuador

This mixed-methods study in Ecuador aimed to develop a methodology for implementing school gardens at Unidad Educativa Misael Olaya, focusing on short-cycle vegetable cultivation for consumption and potential commercialization by high school students. Questionnaires and interviews with students and teachers revealed that while students had basic knowledge of vegetable cultivation, there was a need to strengthen practical activities and experimental learning.

Yarrow Koning, Sofía Abreu · Occasional Paper Series · United States (Florida)

This abstract describes a nature journaling session held in a community garden as part of an LGBTQ+ youth summer day camp in Florida in summer 2022. The session took place shortly before new anti-LGBTQ+ laws, including the "Don't Say Gay" law, went into effect, which are intended to erase LGBTQ+ people and histories from schools and highlight the challenges faced by LGBTQ+ educators and youth.

Karla L. Hanson, Claire Concepcion, Leah C. Volpe · Nutrients · United States

This scoping review explored factors associated with Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) participation among low-income households in the United States. Analyzing 18 articles, findings suggested that women may be more likely than men to enroll in CSA. A lack of familiarity with CSA may hinder enrollment, whereas more education and self-efficacy for food preparation may facilitate participation.

Shweta Vaishnav, Poonam Saini, Aarti Grover · International Journal of Latest Research in Engineering and Management (IJLREM) · India (Delhi)

A qualitative survey analyzing the July 2023 Delhi flood and its impact on women revealed that changing climatic patterns over the last 20 years pose survival threats to the most vulnerable group, women and cattle, in urban agricultural societies. The study also indicated that various infrastructure projects have altered the terrain in the Yamuna River floodplains, leading to changes in the river's course and annual floods.